Amalthea's Final Thoughts
by actress15
Summary: This is a fanfic for Two Hearts, which is the sequel to The Last Unicorn. There are MAJOR SPOILERS in this story. I wasn't satisfied with the end of the story, so I merely added more to it. I focus on Amalthea and Lir.


She heard a distant song. She didn't know where it was coming from or who was singing it, but she could hear it. The unicorn hadn't left her forest in quite some time. It wouldn't be easy for her to leave, though if someone knew how to call her to them, they must be important enough for her to go to.

Off she went. With each gallop, she could hear the song a little clearer. She could hear the familiarity in the voice but she couldn't place it. When the singing was so loud that it pierced her ears, she knew that she had arrived to the place she was meant to be.

She saw many things. There was a wounded griffin, a lifeless dog and a little girl. There was a magician and an old woman. Then…there was him.

It was a man. Not just any man, but the man she loved. In all these years, she had never forgotten him. Her feelings may have been dulled by time, but seeing him again brought them back. The love in her heart swelled with joy as she looked upon Lir.

It wasn't a happy sight. He was crumpled on the ground in a suit of armor, bleeding from a wound that she could only assume the griffin had inflicted. The job he had come to do wasn't finished. If she didn't do something, the rest of them would be dead.

The unicorn charged the griffin, outsmarting him and defeating him. Her hooves beat on his body long after he was dead. She shouldn't have gotten so angry. Unicorns weren't supposed to feel anger, only sorrow for certain occasions. Above all, unicorns were not supposed to love. But she did.

She walked over to Lir, lowering her horn to him. Not because she was going to heal him, but because she wanted him to know that she was there. He was old and gray now, as she knew he would be. Yet somehow, he looked young. There was light in his eyes and happiness, making his wrinkled face seem young again.

He was reaching for her. She had forgotten how long it had been, and it made her wonder if she should have come to him sooner. She thought that he would have had a wife to miss him and a dozen children to be proud of him, but she saw none of that in his blue hues. He was alone. Perhaps not completely, but he had no family.

He had been waiting for her. She could see that. He hadn't married or had a family, all because he had clung to the small hope of seeing her again. Now she was here. She had given him the only thing he ever wanted, the one thing to live for...to see her again. As she thought of what she could say to comfort him, the light left his eyes.

The unicorn stared at him, her heart filling with the despair of his passing. She had known that someday, she would hear of his death and mourn him. She hadn't imagined that she would be at his side to make his final wish come true.

She didn't move, nor did her eyes betray her. There were no tears filling them and no sadness plaguing them, though she did feel sad. Even with him gone, she could see in his eyes the life they could have had, the life he must have dreamt of. She could see their wedding day and how their love blossomed with each passing year. She could see their children, and even grandchildren. She could see the two of them growing old and dying together in their nice, warm bed.

A lifetime shown to her in seconds. She continued to stare into his eyes, waiting to feel something else…something more. It was strange. She regretted not being able to be with Lir and thought that she would be cursed with guilt because of it. Instead, she felt relief (and no guilt came with that, either).

Day after day, she had to wonder what might have been. She had to think of Lir and wonder what he might be doing and how his life had turned out. Now she knew. She was so grateful to have been able to feel his love, and so touched that he had loved her so much that he couldn't bear to move on.

Schmendrick was asking her to bring him back. People would have assumed that was the thing to do, but to what end? Lir was old and alone, and she had given him what he wanted in the end. There was nothing left for poor Lir, not anything more to look forward to. She had to give him peace.

That must have been what she was feeling…peace. Lir was gone, and she didn't have to wonder about him anymore. She didn't have to be tortured by knowing that they could have been together because he was _gone_. As Amalthea's gift to him was to see her again, this may have been his gift to _her_. Total and utter peace. No more regret.

She looked over to the magician, not in a harsh way, but seriously enough to stop him. He didn't understand. He wanted Lir to be young again, but he wasn't and never could be. He had died a good death…and he had died knowing that she still cared. That was enough for him. That was enough for the both of them.

She came to the lifeless dog and healed the brave creature for the little girl. Then she looked at the little girl, hoping to take away her pain. So was so young. She didn't need to live with this forever. It worked in the same way that Lir's eyes had helped _her_. When she was satisfied, she walked back to Schmendrick and Molly.

"Lir is in a better place," she said to them. "He is at peace there. We have comforted each other. We were both thankful to have loved one another, even if it was only for a short time. You, Schmendrick, would not understand. You have magic and do not age as others do. Lir was still inside that old man, begging to break free."

Schmendrick said nothing, but Molly nodded, happy that the unicorn spoke to them at all. "We understand…and we thank you."

"No," she said softly, answering Molly's unspoken question, "We will not see each other again."

With that, she walked away from her friends and traveled back to her forest. She hadn't meant to sound cruel, though she knew that Schmendrick had thought it was. He still had much to learn, and she wasn't going to be the one to teach him. Maybe Molly would. One way or another, they were free of each other. They would eventually grow old and die. As for the unicorn…she would live forever.


End file.
